History of Today in India – 30 May

Explore the history of today 30 May in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 30 May 2026, 08:21 PM

📜 Important Events on 30 May in World History

30 May 2024: Donald Trump is convicted of falsifying business records in his New York trial, the first time a former President of the United States has been found guilty in a criminal case. Read more
30 May 2020: Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches from Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first crewed orbital spacecraft to launch from the United States since 2011 and the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. Read more
30 May 2013: Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage. Read more
30 May 2012: Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Read more
30 May 2008: Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted. Read more
30 May 2008: TACA Flight 390 overshoots the runway at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and crashes, killing five people. Read more
30 May 2003: Depayin massacre: At least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi flees the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards. Read more
30 May 1999: 53 people are killed in a stampede at the Nyamiha metro station in Minsk, Belarus. Read more
30 May 1998: The 6.5 Mw  Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province of northern Afghanistan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), killing around 4,000–4,500. Read more
30 May 1998: Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt TNT equivalent. Read more
30 May 1990: Croatian Parliament is constituted after the first free, multi-party elections, today celebrated as the National Day of Croatia. Read more
30 May 1989: Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 10-metre high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators. Read more
30 May 1982: Cold War: Spain joins NATO. Read more
30 May 1979: Downeast Airlines Flight 46 crashes on approach to Knox County Regional Airport in Rockland, Maine, killing 17. Read more
30 May 1975: The European Space Agency is established. Read more
30 May 1974: The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service. Read more
30 May 1972: The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom. Read more
30 May 1972: In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others. Read more
30 May 1971: Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars. Read more
30 May 1968: Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, West Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of the May 1968 events in France. Read more
30 May 1967: The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war. Read more
30 May 1966: Former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu. Read more
30 May 1963: A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem. Read more
30 May 1961: The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Read more
30 May 1961: Viasa Flight 897 crashes after takeoff from Lisbon Airport, killing 61. Read more
30 May 1959: The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham. Read more
30 May 1958: Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Read more
30 May 1948: A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless. Read more
30 May 1943: The Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp) at Auschwitz concentration camp. Read more
30 May 1942: World War II: One thousand British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany. Read more
30 May 1941: World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag. Read more
30 May 1937: Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators. Read more
30 May 1925: May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shoot and kill 13 protesting workers. Read more
30 May 1922: The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. Read more
30 May 1914: The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City. Read more
30 May 1913: The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War between the Balkan allies and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans cede all their European territories west of a straight line between Enos and Media and Albania becomes an independent nation. Read more
30 May 1911: At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race. Read more
30 May 1899: Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona. Read more
30 May 1883: In New York City, 12 people are killed in a stampede on the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge. Read more
30 May 1876: Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V. Read more
30 May 1876: The secret decree of Ems Ukaz is issued by Russian Tsar Alexander II in the German city of Bad Ems, aimed at stopping the printing and distribution of Ukrainian-language publications in the Russian Empire. Read more
30 May 1868: Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time after a proclamation by John A. Logan, head of the Grand Army of the Republic (a veterans group). Read more
30 May 1866: Bedrich Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride premieres in Prague. Read more
30 May 1862: American Civil War: The Siege of Corinth ends in a Union victory, with General Henry Halleck capturing the critical rail junction of Corinth, Mississippi from retreating Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard. Read more
30 May 1854: The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law, establishing the U.S. territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Read more
30 May 1845: The Fatel Razack, coming from India, lands in the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad and Tobago carrying the first Indians to the country. Read more
30 May 1842: John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert. Read more
30 May 1834: Minister of Justice Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law seizing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses" from the Catholic religious orders in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer". Read more
30 May 1815: The East Indiaman Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, in present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives. Read more
30 May 1814: The First Treaty of Paris is signed, returning the French frontiers to their 1792 extent, and restoring the House of Bourbon to power. Read more
30 May 1806: Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 30 May in World History

30 May 2002: Natty, Thai singer based in South Korea Anatchaya Suputhipong, known professionally as Natty, is a Thai singer based in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Kiss of Life which debuted under S2 Entertainment on July 5, 2023.
She was previously a contestant on Mnet's girl group survival programs Sixteen (2015) and Idol School (2017) before debuting as a soloist on May 7, 2020, with the release of her solo single album Nineteen. Read more
30 May 2000: Jared S. Gilmore, American actor Jared Scott Gilmore is an American former actor and Twitch streamer. He is best known for his role in the series Once Upon a Time (2011–2018) as Henry Mills. Read more
30 May 1999: Eddie Nketiah, English footballer Edward Keddar Nketiah is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Crystal Palace. He has played once for the England national team. Read more
30 May 1999: Guanyu Zhou, Chinese race car driver Zhou Guanyu is a Chinese racing driver who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Cadillac. Zhou competed in Formula One from 2022 to 2024, and remains the only Chinese driver to compete in Formula One. Read more
30 May 1997: Jung Eun-bi, South Korean singer and actress Jung Eun-bi, better known by her stage name Eunha (은하), is a South Korean singer. She is a vocalist in the girl groups GFriend and Viviz. Read more
30 May 1997: Charlie Hall, American actor Charlie Hall is an American television and film actor. Read more
30 May 1997: Jake Short, American actor Jacob Patrick Short is an American actor. His roles have included Fletcher Quimby in the Disney Channel sitcom A.N.T. Farm (2011–2014), Oliver in the Disney XD series Mighty Med (2013–2015) and Lab Rats: Elite Force (2016), and Mattie Sullivan on the British sitcom The First Team (2020). Read more
30 May 1996: Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazilian tennis player Beatriz "Bia" Haddad Maia is a Brazilian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 10 in singles and doubles by the WTA, becoming the first Brazilian woman to enter the top 10 in singles in the Open Era. Her most notable results are a major semifinal at the 2023 French Open and a major quarterfinal at the 2024 US Open. She was also a runner-up with Anna Danilina in a major doubles event, at the 2022 Australian Open. She is currently the No. 1 singles player from Brazil. Read more
30 May 1996: Aleksandr Golovin, Russian footballer Aleksandr Sergeyevich Golovin is a Russian professional footballer who alternates between an attacking midfielder and a left winger for Ligue 1 club Monaco and captains the Russia national team. Read more
30 May 1994: Scott Laughton, Canadian ice hockey player Scott Laughton is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a free agent. Read more
30 May 1992: Harrison Barnes, American basketball player Harrison Bryce Jordan Barnes is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels before being selected by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2012 NBA draft with the seventh overall pick. Barnes won an NBA championship with the Warriors in 2015. He also won a gold medal as a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team. Read more
30 May 1992: Danielle Harold, English actress Danielle Amy Harold is an English actress. She rose to prominence playing Lola Pearce in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Her portrayal of Lola's glioblastoma brain tumour storyline, that ultimately resulted in the character's death, earned her a win at the National Television Awards for Serial Drama Performance and three nominations at the British Soap Awards, of which she won Best Leading Performer, as well as a TRIC award for Soap Actor and the Inside Soap award for Best Actress. She portrayed the character between 2011 and 2015, and again from 2019 until 2023, as well as appearing in posthumous video recordings up until 2026. Following her exit from the soap, she became a contestant on the twenty-third series of I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!. Read more
30 May 1992: Jeremy Lamb, American basketball player Jeremy "Fly Guy" Emmanuel Lamb is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies, where he was the second-leading scorer on the 2011 national champion UConn Huskies team as a freshman. Lamb was drafted by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft. Read more
30 May 1991: Jonathan Fox, English swimmer Jonathan Andrew Fox is a British Paralympic swimmer. Read more
30 May 1990: Im Yoon-ah, South Korean singer and actress Lim Yoona, also known mononymously as Yoona, is a South Korean singer and actress. After training for five years, she debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of South Korea's most widely known girl groups worldwide. Apart from her group's activities, Lim has participated in various television dramas, notably You Are My Destiny (2008), which marked her career breakthrough and earned her the Best New Actress award at the 45th Baeksang Arts Awards. Read more
30 May 1990: Andrei Loktionov, Russian ice hockey player Andrei Vyacheslavovich Loktionov is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing with Sibir Novosibirsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He also played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils, and the Carolina Hurricanes. Loktionov was drafted by the Kings in the fifth round, 128th overall, at the 2008 NHL entry draft Read more
30 May 1990: Zack Wheeler, American baseball player Zachary Harrison Wheeler is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the New York Mets. Read more
30 May 1989: Ailee, Korean-American singer and songwriter Amy Lee, known professionally as Ailee (에일리), is an American singer and songwriter based in South Korea. Amassing digital sales success in South Korea, she has released four studio albums, six extended plays, and twenty one singles, six of which charted within the top five of the Gaon Digital Chart. Read more
30 May 1989: Lesia Tsurenko, Ukrainian tennis player Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko is a Ukrainian inactive professional tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as ten singles and eight doubles tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 February 2019, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 23. On 28 May 2018, she peaked at No. 115 in the WTA doubles rankings. Read more
30 May 1986: Nikolay Bodurov, Bulgarian international footballer Nikolay Georgiev Bodurov is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays for Pirin Blagoevgrad and the Bulgaria national team. Bodurov plays mainly as a centre back but has also played as a right back on some occasions. Read more
30 May 1986: Will Peltz, American actor William Peltz is an American actor, known for his roles in the supernatural horror film Unfriended (2014), the comedy-drama film Men, Women & Children (2014), and the supernatural drama television series Manifest (2021). Read more
30 May 1985: Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (died 2013) Igor Kurnosov was a Russian chess grandmaster. Read more
30 May 1985: Igor Lewczuk, Polish footballer Igor Lewczuk is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for III liga club KS CK Troszyn. Besides Poland, he has played in France. Read more
30 May 1985: Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player Anthony Aaron Volpatti is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played with the Vancouver Canucks and the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
30 May 1984: Sham Kwok Fai, Hong Kong footballer Sham Kwok Fai is a Hong Kong former professional footballer who played as a right back. Read more
30 May 1984: Matt Maguire, Australian footballer Matthew John Maguire is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played with the St Kilda Football Club and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Read more
30 May 1984: Alexander Sulzer, German ice hockey player Alexander Sulzer is a German former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
30 May 1982: Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (died 2007) Eddie Jamaal Griffin was an American professional basketball player from Philadelphia. He last played for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, who waived him on March 13, 2007. Months later, he was killed in a car crash. Read more
30 May 1982: James Simpson-Daniel, English rugby player James David Simpson-Daniel is a former English rugby union footballer who played wing or centre for Gloucester Rugby. Read more
30 May 1982: Leonid Radvinsky, American businessman (died 2026) Leonid Saveliyovych Radvinsky was an American billionaire businessman and the majority owner of OnlyFans. Born in the Ukrainian SSR, Radvinsky was the founder of the cam site MyFreeCams, and the majority owner of OnlyFans, a content subscription service website. His website lists his personal investment portfolio. He had an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion at the time of his death, according to Forbes. Read more
30 May 1981: Devendra Banhart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Devendra Obi Banhart is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist. He was born in Texas and grew up in Venezuela and California. In 2000, he dropped out of the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco to pursue a musical career. In 2002, Banhart released his debut album and he is best known for his albums in the late 2000s such as Cripple Crow and Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. He has since expanded his career to incorporate his interest and training in the visual arts. Read more
30 May 1981: Gianmaria Bruni, Italian race car driver Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, in which he gained the 2013 and 2014 GT Drivers' Titles whilst driving as a factory Ferrari driver. He won the 2008 FIA GT Championship, 2011 Le Mans Series and 2012 International GT Open and took three class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2008, 2012 and 2014. He also was successful at the 2009 and 2015 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 2010 12 Hours of Sebring and 2011 Petit Le Mans. Read more
30 May 1981: Ahmad Elrich, Australian footballer Ahmad Elrich is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a right winger for Australian club Parramatta FC. Read more
30 May 1981: Remy Ma, American rapper Reminisce Kioni Smith, known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Discovered by the late rapper Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad. Her debut solo album, There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story (2006), sold 37,000 copies in its first week. Ma's most commercially successful songs include "Lean Back", "Conceited", and "All the Way Up". Read more
30 May 1981: Lars Møller Madsen, Danish handball player Lars Møller Madsen is a Danish team handball player. He has played for the Swedish clubs IFK Kristianstad and HIF Karlskrona, Polish Wisla Plock and Danish side Skjern Håndbold. He ended his career in 2008 at the age of 37. He is most famous for scoring the winning goal in quarter final against Iceland in the 2007 World Men's Handball Championship. The score was 41:41 at the time, where he scored Denmarks 42nd goal with 2 seconds remaining. Read more
30 May 1981: Hisanori Takada, Japanese footballer Hisanori Takada was a Japanese professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
30 May 1980: Steven Gerrard, English international footballer and manager Steven George Gerrard is an English professional football manager and a former player who most recently managed Saudi Pro League club Al Ettifaq. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Gerrard spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool and the England national team, captaining both. Read more
30 May 1980: Ilona Korstin, Russian basketball player Ilona Kalyuvna Korstin, alternatively spelled Korstine, is a retired Russian basketball forward of Estonian origin, who competed for her native Russia at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning two bronze medals. She ended her career in 2013. Read more
30 May 1980: Ryōgo Narita, Japanese author Ryōgo Narita is a Japanese light novelist and manga writer. He won the Gold Prize in the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize for Baccano!, which was made into an anime television series in 2007. His series Durarara!! was also made into two anime television series, one airing January 2010 and the second in January 2015. Read more
30 May 1979: Mike Bishai, Canadian ice hockey player Michael Bishai is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Bishai was never drafted but played in the National Hockey League with the Edmonton Oilers. Read more
30 May 1979: Clint Bowyer, American race car driver Clinton Aaron Bowyer is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for NASCAR on Fox. Read more
30 May 1979: Francis Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player Francis Lessard is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward who most recently played for the Trois-Rivières Blizzard in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH). While he had stints in the NHL with the Atlanta Thrashers and Ottawa Senators, the majority of his career was spent in the American Hockey League (AHL). He was widely recognized for his role as an enforcer, known for his tough, physical play and for defending his teammates on the ice. Read more
30 May 1977: Rachael Stirling, English actress Rachael Atlanta Stirling is a British stage, film, and television actress. She played Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet, and Millie in the ITV series The Bletchley Circle. She has also guest-starred in Lewis and one episode of Doctor Who, co-starring with her mother, Diana Rigg. She has been nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Award for her stage work. Read more
30 May 1977: Federico Vilar, Argentinian-Italian footballer Federico Vilar Baudena is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
30 May 1976: Arna Lára Jónsdóttir, Icelandic politician Arna Lára Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic politician and member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, she has represented the Northwest constituency since November 2024. Read more
30 May 1976: Rasho Nesterović, basketball player Radoslav "Rasho" Nesterović is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. He holds citizenship in both Slovenia and Greece. During his career in the NBA, Nesterović played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, and Toronto Raptors. He retired in 2011. Read more
30 May 1976: Magnus Norman, Swedish tennis player and coach Magnus Norman is a Swedish former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in June 2000. Norman won twelve ATP Tour singles titles, including a Masters event at the 2000 Rome Masters, and was runner-up at a major at the 2000 French Open. Read more
30 May 1976: Margaret Okayo, Kenyan runner Margaret Okayo is a professional Kenyan marathon runner. She has won four World Marathon Majors with victories in the New York City Marathon, the Boston Marathon and the London Marathon, setting three course records. Okayo's 2003 New York course record of 2:22:31 stood until 2025, despite the challenge of some of the world’s best distance runners having the benefit of improved shoe technology. She has also won the San Diego Marathon on two occasions. Read more
30 May 1975: Evan Eschmeyer, American basketball player Evan Bruce Eschmeyer is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft. He spent six years on the Northwestern University Wildcats, (1993–1999) missing the first two due to a foot injury. He was their 6'11" center, scoring 1,805 points and grabbing 995 rebounds. He led the Wildcats to an NIT berth in 1999 with a 15–14 record. In the 1999 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament, his 8th seeded wildcats nearly beat the #1 seeded Michigan State Spartans but lost to a last second shot by Spartan great Mateen Cleaves. Eschmeyer played in four NBA seasons from 1999 to 2003. He played for the Nets from 1999 to 2001 and the Dallas Mavericks from 2001 to 2003. He averaged 2.9 pts, 3.9 rebs, and 0.6 blocks per game. Read more
30 May 1975: Brian Fair, American singer-songwriter Brian James Fair is an American musician from Massachusetts, best known as lead vocalist of the metalcore band Shadows Fall. Read more
30 May 1975: Andy Farrell, English rugby player and coach Andrew David Farrell is an English professional rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union footballer. Farrell has been head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team since 2019. Read more
30 May 1975: CeeLo Green, American singer-songwriter Thomas DeCarlo Callaway-Burton, known professionally as CeeLo Green, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he gained initial prominence as a member of the Southern hip-hop group Goodie Mob in 1991. After three albums with the group, Green signed with Arista Records to release his solo albums Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections (2002) and Cee-Lo Green… Is the Soul Machine (2004). He is known for his soul-infused delivery in hip hop and R&B, displayed in his signature song "Crazy" and his solo single "Fuck You". Read more
30 May 1975: Marissa Mayer, American computer scientist and businesswoman Marissa Ann Mayer is an American business executive, software engineer, and investor who served as president and chief executive officer of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017, when it was sold to Verizon. She was a long-time executive, usability leader and key spokesperson for Google, and was its first woman software engineer. Mayer later co-founded Sunshine, a startup technology company. Read more
30 May 1974: Big L, American rapper (died 1999) Lamont Coleman, known professionally as Big L, was an American rapper and record producer. Emerging from Harlem in New York City in 1992, Big L became known among underground hip-hop fans for his freestyling ability. He was eventually signed to Columbia Records, where, in 1995, he released his debut studio album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous. He was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in Harlem in 1999. Read more
30 May 1974: Kostas Chalkias, Greek footballer Konstantinos "Kostas" Chalkias is a Greek retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Panathinaikos, Apollon Athens, Iraklis, Portsmouth, Real Murcia, Aris, PAOK and Panachaiki. Read more
30 May 1974: Shin Ha-kyun, South Korean actor Shin Ha-kyun is a South Korean actor. He first gained recognition for his role in Joint Security Area (2000), followed by notable performances in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Save the Green Planet! (2003), and Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005). Shin has also been active in television, earning praise for his roles in Brain (2011), Less Than Evil (2018–2019), and Beyond Evil (2021), the latter of which earned him the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor. Read more
30 May 1974: David Wilkie, American ice hockey player and coach David John Wilkie is an American former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Rangers. He played defense and shot right-handed. Read more
30 May 1972: Manny Ramirez, Dominican-American baseball player and coach Manuel Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a Dominican-American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for parts of 19 seasons. He played with the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, and Tampa Bay Rays before playing one season at the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan. Ramirez is recognized for having great batting skill and power. He was a nine-time Silver Slugger and was one of 28 players to hit 500 career home runs. His 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 29 postseason home runs are the most in MLB history. He appeared in 12 All-Star Games, with a streak of eleven consecutive games beginning in 1998 that included every season that he played with the Red Sox. Read more
30 May 1971: Paul Grayson, English rugby player and coach Paul James Grayson, is the former assistant head coach of
Northampton Saints rugby union club. He formerly played at fly-half for Northampton, for whom he was the all-time leading points scorer, and England. He is known as "Larry" or "Grase". Read more
30 May 1971: Duncan Jones, English director, producer, and screenwriter Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He directed the films Moon (2009), Source Code (2011), Warcraft (2016), and Mute (2018). For Moon, he won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. He is the son of English singer-songwriter David Bowie and Cypriot-born American model, actress, and journalist Angie Bowie. Read more
30 May 1971: Idina Menzel, American singer-songwriter and actress Idina Kim Menzel is an American actress, singer and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Broadway", Menzel is known for her commanding stage presence, powerful mezzo-soprano voice, and reputation as one of the most influential stage actors of her generation. Having achieved mainstream success across stage, screen, and music, her accolades include a Tony Award and a Daytime Emmy Award. Read more
30 May 1971: Jiří Šlégr, Czech ice hockey player and politician Jiří Šlégr is a Czech professional ice hockey executive and player who is the general manager of the Czech men's national team. Playing as a defenceman, he was a member of the 2001–02 Detroit Red Wings that won the 2002 Stanley Cup after he was acquired in a late-season trade. Šlégr was inducted into the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame on 12 December 2019. Read more
30 May 1971: Adrian Vowles, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster Adrian Vowles is a former professional Scotland international rugby league footballer who played as a loose forward or centre in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in Australia for several years, gaining State of Origin selection in 1994, but spent the majority of his career in the Super League. Read more
30 May 1969: Naomi Kawase, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter Naomi Kawase is a Japanese film director. She was also briefly known as Naomi Sento , with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including Embracing, about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about the grandmother who raised her. Read more
30 May 1969: Ryuhei Kitamura, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter Ryuhei Kitamura is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura relocated to Sydney, Australia at age 17 and attended a school for visual arts for two years. In 1997, Kitamura directed and produced the short film Down to Hell, which received a positive response from students, teachers, and an award which motivated Kitamura to seriously pursue a film career. He went on to independently finance and direct his feature film debut Versus (2000). The film proved to be successful within the film festival circuit and opened doors for Kitamura to direct more high-profile films such as Alive (2002), Sky High (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), The Midnight Meat Train (2008), No One Lives (2012), the live-action adaptation of Lupin the 3rd (2014), and several other Japanese and Hollywood productions. Read more
30 May 1968: Jason Kenney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Premier of Alberta Jason Thomas Kenney is a former Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022, and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Calgary-Lougheed from 2017 until 2022. Kenney was the last leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party before the party merged with the Wildrose Party to form the UCP. Prior to entering Alberta provincial politics, he served in various cabinet posts under Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015. Read more
30 May 1968: Zacarias Moussaoui, French citizen, sentenced to life in prison related to September 11 attacks Zacarias Moussaoui is an Islamic terrorist who was a member of the al-Qaeda militant organization. He likely planned to participate in the September 11 attacks (9/11) in 2001, in which 19 members of al-Qaeda hijacked four American airliners in an attempt to crash them into U.S. landmarks. Read more
30 May 1967: Tim Burgess, English singer-songwriter Timothy Allan Burgess is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Charlatans. Read more
30 May 1967: Rechelle Hawkes, Australian hockey player Rechelle Margaret Hawkes is an Australian former field hockey player. Hawkes spent eight years as the captain of the Australian Women's Hockey Team, the Hockeyroos, and became the second Australian woman after swimmer Dawn Fraser to win three Olympic gold medals at three separate Olympic Games: Seoul 1988, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Read more
30 May 1967: Sven Pipien, German-American bass player Sven Pipien is a musician best known as the bassist of the southern rock band The Black Crowes. Read more
30 May 1966: Sonya Curry, mother of American basketball players Sonya Alicia Curry is an American educator and author. She is the mother of professional basketball players Stephen Curry and Seth Curry. Read more
30 May 1966: Thomas Häßler, German footballer and manager Thomas Jürgen "Icke" Häßler is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. At club level, he made a century of appearances for four teams: 1. FC Köln, Karlsruher SC and 1860 Munich in Germany and Roma in Italy, and spent a season apiece with Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and SV Salzburg. Häßler also appeared over 100 times for the Germany national team. Read more
30 May 1966: Stephen Malkmus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Stephen Joseph Malkmus is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. Beginning as a duo, Pavement subsequently grew to a quintet. The band released five studio albums before breaking up in 1999. Read more
30 May 1965: Troy Coker, Australian rugby player Troy Coker is a former Australian international rugby union player.
He played as a number 8 and was capped 27 times for Australia between 1987 and 1997.
He was a member of the winning Australian squad at the 1991 Rugby World Cup and was also in the squad at the 1987 and 1995 Rugby World Cup. He is married and has two daughters, Ella and Ava. "Profile". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 6 September 2012. Read more
30 May 1965: Billy Donovan, American basketball player and coach William John Donovan Jr. is an American professional basketball coach and former player who most recently was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before moving to the NBA, he served as the head basketball coach at the University of Florida from 1996 to 2015, and led his Florida Gator teams to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007, as well as an NCAA championship appearance in 2000. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2025. Read more
30 May 1965: Iginio Straffi, Italian animator and producer, founded Rainbow S.r.l. Iginio Straffi is an Italian animator and former comic book author. He is the founder and president of Rainbow SpA, which he co-owned alongside the American media company Paramount Global from 2011 until 2023. Straffi is the creator of the studio's animated series Winx Club and Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, as well as the co-creator of its comic book series Maya Fox. Read more
30 May 1964: Wynonna Judd, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress Wynonna Ellen Judd Moser, known simply as Wynonna, is an American country music singer. She is one of the most widely recognized and awarded female country musicians in history. She has had 19 No. 1 singles, including those with The Judds. She first rose to fame in the 1980s alongside her mother, Naomi, in their mother-daughter country music duo, The Judds. They released seven albums on Curb Records, in addition to 26 singles, of which 14 were No. 1 hits. Read more
30 May 1964: Andrea Montermini, Italian race car driver Andrea Montermini is an Italian racing driver. He drove in Formula One from 1994 to 1996. Read more
30 May 1964: Tom Morello, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor Thomas Baptist Morello is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and political activist. He is known for his tenure with the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello was a member of the supergroup Prophets of Rage. Morello is also an occasional touring musician with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Under the moniker the Nightwatchman, Morello released his solo work. Together with Boots Riley, he formed Street Sweeper Social Club. Morello co-founded Axis of Justice, which airs a monthly program on Pacifica Radio station KPFK in Los Angeles. Read more
30 May 1963: Michel Langevin, Canadian drummer and songwriter Michel "Away" Langevin is a Canadian musician, best known as a founding member and drummer of heavy metal band Voivod. He has been a constant member of the band since its formation in 1982. Langevin is credited with the creation of the mythology of the post-apocalyptic vampire lord Voivod, about which the band originally coalesced, and is largely responsible for its continuing science fiction themes. Read more
30 May 1963: Élise Lucet, French journalist Élise Lucet is a French journalist and television host. Known for her investigative journalism work on France Télévisions shows such as Pièces à Conviction, Cash Investigation and Envoyé spécial, she has been dubbed France's "incorruptible journalist". In 2008, she was named Knight of the Legion of Honour. Lucet's work for Cash Investigation garnered her and her crew around twenty international awards including a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for their investigation on the Panama Papers. Read more
30 May 1963: Helen Sharman, English chemist and astronaut Helen Patricia Sharman is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in May 1991. Read more
30 May 1962: Kevin Eastman, American author and illustrator, co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal. Read more
30 May 1962: Richard Fuller, English lawyer and politician Richard Quentin Fuller is a British politician who has been Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury since November 2024, having previously served as the interim Chairman of the Conservative Party from July to November 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North Bedfordshire, formerly North East Bedfordshire, since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he represented Bedford from 2010 to 2017. Read more
30 May 1962: Tim Loughton, English businessman and politician Timothy Paul Loughton, is a British politician and former banker who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Worthing and Shoreham from 1997 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families from 2010 to 2012 and has twice served as the Acting Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2016 and 2021, following the respective resignations of Keith Vaz and Yvette Cooper. Read more
30 May 1962: Tonya Pinkins, American actress and singer Tonya Pinkins is an American actress and filmmaker. Read more
30 May 1961: Harry Enfield, English actor, director, and screenwriter Henry Richard Enfield is an English comedy actor and writer known in particular for his television work. His shows include Harry Enfield's Television Programme, Harry Enfield & Chums and Harry & Paul, across which he created and portrayed characters such as Kevin the Teenager, Loadsamoney, Smashie and Nicey, The Scousers, Tim Nice-But-Dim and Mr "You Don't Want to Do It Like That". Read more
30 May 1961: John Terlesky, American actor John Todd Terlesky is an American actor, film director, television director and screenwriter. As an actor, he is known for playing Deathstalker in the 1987 film Deathstalker II, and Mike in Chopping Mall (1986). Read more
30 May 1961: Bob Yari, Iranian-American director and producer Bob Yari is an Iranian-born American film producer and director. Read more
30 May 1959: Phil Brown, English footballer, coach, and manager Philip Brown is an English former professional footballer and coach who is currently director of football at Southern League Premier Division Central club Peterborough Sports. Read more
30 May 1959: Randy Ferbey, Canadian curler Randy S. Ferbey is a Canadian retired curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Ferbey is a six-time Canadian champion and a four-time World Champion. He recently coached the Rachel Homan women's team. Read more
30 May 1959: Frank Vanhecke, Belgian politician Frank Arthur Hyppolite Vanhecke is a Belgian politician. Vanhecke started his career in Belgian politics as a student by joining the Jong Studentenverbond and later the Nationalistische Studentenvereniging. He gave up his membership of the Volksunie in 1977 after it acceded to a much-debated package of federal reforms. Vanhecke subsequently joined the Vlaams Nationale Partij, the predecessor of the Vlaams Blok. Read more
30 May 1958: Eugene Belliveau, Canadian football player Eugene Belliveau is a Canadian former professional football defensive lineman. Read more
30 May 1958: Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2019) Gun-Marie Fredriksson was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist, and lead vocalist of pop-rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with their albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and had multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number ones. Read more
30 May 1958: Steve Israel, American lawyer and politician Steven Jay Israel is an American political commentator, lobbyist, author, bookseller, and former politician. He served as a U.S. representative from New York from 2001 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected in New York's 2nd congressional district until 2013 and New York's 3rd congressional district until his retirement. At the time of his departure from Congress, his district included portions of northern Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island, as well as a small portion of Queens in New York City. Read more
30 May 1958: Michael López-Alegría, Spanish-American captain, pilot, and astronaut Michael López-Alegría is an astronaut, test pilot and commercial astronaut with dual nationality, American and Spanish; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission. He is known for having performed ten spacewalks so far in his career, presently holding the second longest all-time EVA duration record and having the fifth-longest spaceflight of any American at the length of 215 days; this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18, 2006, to April 21, 2007. López-Alegría commanded Axiom-1, the first all-private team of commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station, which launched on April 8, 2022, and spent just over 17 days in Earth's orbit. Read more
30 May 1958: Ted McGinley, American actor Theodore Martin McGinley is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television sitcom Married… with Children, Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, and Derek Bishop on the Apple TV comedy drama series Shrinking. He was a late regular on Happy Days, Dynasty and The Love Boat and is known for playing the villainous role of Stan Gable in the film Revenge of the Nerds and several made-for-television sequels. Read more
30 May 1957: Mike Clayton, Australian golfer Michael Andrew Clayton is an Australian professional golfer, golf course architect and commentator on the game. He won the 1984 Timex Open on the European Tour and won six times on the PGA Tour of Australasia between 1982 and 1994. Read more
30 May 1956: Tim Lucas, American author, screenwriter, and critic Timothy Ray Lucas is an American film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and blogger, best known for publishing and editing the video review magazine Video Watchdog. Read more
30 May 1956: Jonathan Idema, American soldier, mercenary, con artist, vigilante, and criminal (died 2012) Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema was an American con artist, mercenary and former United States Army reserve non-commissioned officer, known for his vigilante activities during the War in Afghanistan. Read more
30 May 1955: Topper Headon, English drummer and songwriter Nicholas Bowen "Topper" Headon is an English drummer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer of punk rock band the Clash. Headon was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the Clash in 2003. Read more
30 May 1955: Jacqueline McGlade, English-Canadian biologist, ecologist, and academic Jacqueline Myriam McGlade is a British-born Canadian marine biologist and environmental informatics professor. Her research concerns the spatial and nonlinear dynamics of ecosystems, climate change and scenario development. She is currently professor of resilience and sustainable development at the University College London Institute for Global Prosperity and Faculty of Engineering, UK, and professor at Strathmore University in the Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Kenya. Read more
30 May 1955: Caroline Swift, English lawyer and judge Dame Caroline Jane Swift, Lady Openshaw,, formerly styled The Hon. Mrs Justice Swift, is a British barrister and former High Court judge. She was leading counsel to the Inquiry in the Shipman Inquiry, which began in 2001. Read more
30 May 1955: Colm Tóibín, Irish novelist, poet, playwright, and critic Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. Read more
30 May 1955: Jake Roberts, American professional wrestler Aurelian Smith Jr. better known by the ring name Jake "the Snake" Roberts, is an American actor, podcaster and retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he serves as a special advisor for AEW's community outreach program, AEW Together. He is also signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is best known for his two stints in the World Wrestling Federation ; the first between 1986 and 1992, and the second between 1996 and 1997. He wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance in 1983, World Championship Wrestling in 1992, and the Mexico-based Asistencia Asesoría y Administración between 1993 and 1994 and again in 1997. He appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling during the summer of 1997 and made appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2006 through 2008. Read more
30 May 1953: Jim Hunter, Canadian skier James Mark Hunter, nicknamed "Jungle Jim", is a Canadian former alpine ski racer who represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games in 1972 and 1976, and won a bronze medal in the 1972 World Championships. He was a member of the Canadian Men's Alpine Ski Team nicknamed the "Crazy Canucks", and is considered to be the original Crazy Canuck. Read more
30 May 1953: Colm Meaney, Irish actor Colm J. Meaney is an Irish actor. Known for his performances across screen and stage, he has received seven nominations from the Irish Film & Television Academy, winning twice for 2001's How Harry Became a Tree, and 2016's The Journey. Other film credits include Roddy Doyle's Barrytown franchise, Con Air, Layer Cake, The Damned United, Get Him to the Greek, and The Snapper, for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, and won the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actor at the 1993 Chicago International Film Festival. Read more
30 May 1952: Daniel Grodnik, American screenwriter and producer Daniel Grodnik is an American film producer living in Los Angeles, California. Read more
30 May 1952: Kerry Fraser, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and sportscaster Kerry Fraser is a hockey analyst, broadcaster and former senior referee in the National Hockey League. During his career, he called 1,904 regular season games, 12 Stanley Cup Finals, and over 261 Stanley Cup playoff games. Read more
30 May 1951: Zdravko Čolić, Bosnian Serb singer-songwriter Zdravko Čolić is a Bosnian and Serbian pop singer who is widely considered one of the greatest vocalists and cultural icons of the former Yugoslavia. He has been compared to Paul McCartney and Tom Jones by music critics and the general public. He has garnered fame in Southeastern Europe for his emotionally expressive tenor voice, fluent stage presence and numerous critically and commercially acclaimed albums and singles. Read more
30 May 1951: Fernando Lugo, Paraguayan bishop and politician, President of Paraguay Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez is a Paraguayan politician and laicized Catholic bishop who was President of Paraguay from 2008 to 2012. Previously, he was a Roman Catholic priest and bishop, serving as Bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro from 1994 to 2005. He was elected as president in 2008, an election that ended 61 years of rule by the Colorado Party. Read more
30 May 1951: Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor, singer, and director Stephen Harold Tobolowsky is an American character actor and writer. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in Memento, as well as such television characters as Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood, Bob Bishop in Heroes, Sandy Ryerson in Glee, Stu Beggs in Californication and White Famous, "Action" Jack Barker in Silicon Valley, Dr. Leslie Berkowitz in One Day at a Time, Principal Earl Ball in The Goldbergs, and Dr. Schulman in The Mindy Project. Read more
30 May 1950: Bertrand Delanoë, French politician, 14th Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë is a French retired politician who served as Mayor of Paris from 2001 to 2014. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he previously served in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and in the Senate from 1995 until 2001. Read more
30 May 1950: Paresh Rawal, Indian actor, producer, and politician Paresh Rawal is an Indian actor film producer and former politician, known for his works primarily in Hindi films. Considered as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he has appeared in over 240 films and is the recipient of various accolades including a National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards. He was honoured with Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2014. Read more
30 May 1950: Joshua Rozenberg, English lawyer, journalist, and author Joshua Rufus Rozenberg KC (hon) is a British solicitor, legal affairs commentator, and journalist. Read more
30 May 1949: P.J. Carlesimo, American basketball player and coach Peter John Carlesimo is an American former basketball coach who coached in both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and college basketball for nearly 40 years. He is also a television broadcaster and has worked with ESPN, The NBA on TNT, Westwood One, Fox Sports Southwest, Pac-12 Network, The NBA on NBC, and CSN New England. Read more
30 May 1949: Paul Coleridge, English lawyer and judge
Sir Paul James Duke Coleridge is a retired judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He is currently the Chairman of the Marriage Foundation. Read more
30 May 1949: Bob Willis, English cricketer and sportscaster (died 2019) Robert George Dylan Willis was an English cricketer, who represented England between 1971 and 1984. A right-handed fast bowler, Willis is regarded by many as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He was a part of the English squad that finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup. Read more
30 May 1948: Johan De Muynck, Belgian former professional road racing cyclist Johan De Muynck is a former Belgian professional road racing cyclist who raced from 1971 to 1983. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1978 Giro d'Italia. Other Grand Tour highlights include a very strong performance in the closely contested 1976 Giro d'Italia where he held the Maglia Rosa until the final time trial finishing on the podium in 2nd just nineteen seconds behind Felice Gimondi. He also rode well in the 1980 and 1981 editions of the Tour de France where he finished 4th and 7th respectively. Until Remco Evenepoel's victory at the 2022 Vuelta a España, De Muynck was the last Belgian rider to win a Grand Tour. Read more
30 May 1948: Michael Piller, American screenwriter and producer (died 2005) Michael Piller was an American television scriptwriter and producer, who was best known for his contributions to the Star Trek franchise. Read more
30 May 1948: David Thorpe, Australian rules footballer David Thorpe is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray and Richmond in the VFL. Read more
30 May 1947: Jocelyne Bourassa, Canadian golfer (died 2021) Jocelyne Bourassa, CM was a Canadian professional golfer, who had a distinguished amateur career. She was Rookie of the Year on the LPGA Tour in 1972 and ended her career with one victory on the tour. Read more
30 May 1946: Allan Chapman, English historian and author Allan Chapman was a British historian of science. Read more
30 May 1946: Dragan Džajić, Serbian and Yugoslav footballer Dragan Džajić is a Serbian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Football Association of Serbia from 14 March 2023. Read more
30 May 1945: Gladys Horton, American singer (died 2011) Gladys Catherine Horton was an American R&B and pop singer, notable for being the founder and lead singer of the all-female vocal group the Marvelettes, the first successful Motown girl group. Read more
30 May 1944: Lenny Davidson, English guitarist and songwriter The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, "Glad All Over", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 6 in the United States in April 1964. Although this was their only UK No. 1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over". Their other UK top-ten hits include "Bits and Pieces", "Can't You See That She's Mine", "Catch Us If You Can", "Everybody Knows", "The Red Balloon", "Good Old Rock 'n' Roll", and a version of Chet Powers' "Get Together". Read more
30 May 1944: Meredith MacRae, American actress (died 2000) Meredith Lynn MacRae was an American actress, singer and talk show host. She is known for her roles as Sally Morrison on My Three Sons (1963–1965) and as Billie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction (1966–1970). Read more
30 May 1944: Stav Prodromou, Greek-American engineer and businessman Stavro Evangelo "Stav" Prodromou is a Palestinian Greek American businessman, and the founder and former chief executive officer of Poqet Computer Corporation. Prodromou has been CEO of Alien Technology, Peregrine Semiconductor, and Integrated Circuit Systems and Executive Vice President of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. Read more
30 May 1943: James Chaney, American civil rights activist (died 1964) James Earl Chaney was an American civil rights activist. He was one of three civil rights workers murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. The others were Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York City. Read more
30 May 1943: Anders Michanek, Swedish motorcycle racer Anders Michanek is a Swedish Speedway rider. In 1974 he won the Speedway World Championship in his Swedish homeland with a maximum score of 15 points. He earned 101 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Read more
30 May 1943: Gale Sayers, American football player and philanthropist (died 2020) Gale Eugene Sayers was an American professional football halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). Sayers played for the Chicago Bears from 1965 to 1971, though injuries effectively limited him to five seasons of play. Elusive, agile, and very fast, he was regarded by his peers as one of the most difficult players to tackle. Sayers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977 at age 34 and remains the youngest person to have received the honor. Read more
30 May 1942: John Gladwin, English bishop John Warren Gladwin is a retired Anglican bishop. From 2004 to 2009, he was the Bishop of Chelmsford in the Church of England. He stands in the open evangelical tradition. Read more
30 May 1942: Carole Stone, English journalist and author Carole Stone, CBE is a British author and freelance radio and television broadcaster. Stone spent 27 years at the BBC beginning as a newsroom secretary and eventually becoming the producer of Radio 4's flagship discussion programme Any Questions? In 2018, Stone established The Carole Stone Foundation to support her belief that connecting people, exchanging ideas and building friendships around the world is essential to help make a fairer society. Read more
30 May 1940: Jagmohan Dalmiya, Indian cricket administrator (died 2015) Jagmohan Dalmiya was an Indian cricket administrator and businessman from the city of Kolkata. He was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as well as the Cricket Association of Bengal. He had also served as the President of the International Cricket Council. Read more
30 May 1940: Gilles Villemure, Canadian-American ice hockey player Joseph Hector Gilles Villemure is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks in the 1960s and 1970s. Read more
30 May 1939: Michael J. Pollard, American actor (died 2019) Michael J. Pollard was an American character actor. With his distinctive bulbous nose, dimpled chin and smirk, he gained a cult following, usually portraying quirky, off-beat, simplistic but likeable supporting characters. He was best known for his role as C. W. Moss, in the film Bonnie and Clyde (1967), which earned him critical acclaim along with nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Other notable appearances include The Wild Angels (1966), Hannibal Brooks (1969), Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970), Dirty Little Billy (1972), Roxanne (1987), American Gothic (1988), and Tango & Cash (1989). Read more
30 May 1939: Dieter Quester, Austrian race car driver Dietrich Erwin Quester is an Austrian former racing driver. Quester participated in 53 24-Hour Races. He competed in a single Formula One race in which he finished ninth. Read more
30 May 1939: Tim Waterstone, Scottish businessman, founded Waterstones Sir Timothy John Stuart Waterstone is a British bookseller, businessman and author. He is the founder of Waterstones, the United Kingdom-based bookseller retail chain, the largest in Europe. Read more
30 May 1938: Billie Letts, American author and educator (died 2014) Billie Dean Letts was an American novelist and educator. She was a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Read more
30 May 1937: Christopher Haskins, Anglo-Irish businessman, life peer, and British politician Christopher Robin Haskins, Baron Haskins was an Irish-born businessman and life peer, who was a member of the British House of Lords from 1998 to 2020. Read more
30 May 1937: Rick Mather, American-English architect (died 2013) Rick Mather was an American-born architect working in England. Born in Portland, Oregon and awarded a B.arch. at the University of Oregon in 1961, he came to London in 1963 and worked at the architectural firm Lyons Israel Ellis for two years. He became a leading figure at the Architectural Association in the 1970s, and in 1973 founded his own practice, Rick Mather Architects. Read more
30 May 1936: Keir Dullea, American actor Keir Atwood Dullea is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and its 1984 sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Read more
30 May 1935: Ruta Lee, Canadian-American actress and dancer Ruta Lee is a Canadian-born American actress and dancer of Lithuanian descent. She was born in Montreal, Canada, to Lithuanian immigrant parents. Ruta Lee appeared as one of the brides in the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She had roles in films including Billy Wilder's crime drama Witness for the Prosecution and Stanley Donen's musical comedy Funny Face, and also is remembered for her guest appearance in a 1963 episode of Rod Serling's sci-fi series The Twilight Zone called "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain". Read more
30 May 1935: Guy Tardif, Canadian academic and politician (died 2005)

Guy Tardif was a Canadian politician. He was a Parti Québécois member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1976 to 1985 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of René Lévesque and Pierre-Marc Johnson. He is the grandfather of professional gridiron football guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Read more
30 May 1934: Alexei Leonov, Russian general, pilot, and cosmonaut (died 2019) Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut and aviator, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the Moon although the project was eventually cancelled. Read more
30 May 1934: Alketas Panagoulias, Greek footballer and manager (died 2012) Alketas 'Alkis' Panagoulias was a Greek association football player and manager. He managed the national teams of both Greece and the United States. He also managed several clubs, including Aris, his birthplace team, and Olympiacos with whom he won three Alpha Ethniki championships. Read more
30 May 1932: Ray Cooney, English actor and playwright Raymond George Alfred Cooney OBE is a retired English playwright, actor, and director. Read more
30 May 1932: Pauline Oliveros, American accordion player and composer (died 2016) Pauline Oliveros was an American composer and accordionist. Read more
30 May 1932: Ivor Richard, Baron Richard, Welsh politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United Nations (died 2018) Ivor Seward Richard, Baron Richard, was a British Labour politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 until 1974. He was also a member of the European Commission and latterly sat as a life peer in the House of Lords. Read more
30 May 1931: Larry Silverstein, American real estate magnate Larry A. Silverstein is an American billionaire businessman. Among his real estate projects, he is the developer of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City, as well as one of New York's tallest residential towers at 30 Park Place, where he owns a home. As of December 2024, he had an estimated net worth of US$1 billion according to Forbes. Read more
30 May 1930: Mark Birley, English businessman, founded Annabel's (died 2007) Marcus Oswald Hornby Lecky Birley was a British entrepreneur known for his investments in the hospitality industry. Read more
30 May 1930: Robert Ryman, American painter (died 2019) Robert Ryman was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He was best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lived and worked in New York City. Read more
30 May 1929: Georges Gilson, French archbishop (died 2024) Georges Robert Edmond Gilson was a French Roman Catholic archbishop. Read more
30 May 1928: Pro Hart, Australian painter (died 2006) Kevin Charles "Pro" Hart, MBE, was an Australian artist, born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, who was considered the father of the Australian Outback painting movement and his works are widely admired for capturing the true spirit of the outback. He grew up on his family's sheep farm in Menindee and was nicknamed "Professor" during his younger days, when he was known as an inventor. Read more
30 May 1928: Agnès Varda, Belgian-French director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2019) Agnès Varda was a Belgian-born French filmmaker, artist, and photographer. Read more
30 May 1928: Radoslav Rotković, Montenegrin historian (died 2013) Radoslav Rotković was a Montenegrin historian, philologist and academician. He is known for his works in Montenegrin history and literature. Read more
30 May 1927: Joan Birman, American mathematician Joan Sylvia Lyttle Birman is an American mathematician, specializing in low-dimensional topology. She has made contributions to the study of knots, 3-manifolds, mapping class groups of surfaces, geometric group theory, contact structures and dynamical systems. Birman is research professor emerita at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she has been since 1973. Read more
30 May 1927: Clint Walker, American actor and singer (died 2018) Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker was an American actor. He rose to stardom for playing the title character in the Western series Cheyenne (1955–1962). Read more
30 May 1927: Billy Wilson, Australian rugby league player and coach (died 1993) William Alfred Wilson was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative front-row forward, he captained the national team in two Tests against New Zealand in 1963 and captained-coached several of his club sides during a record length top-grade career over twenty seasons from 1948 to 1967. Much of his New South Wales Rugby League premiership career was spent with Sydney's St. George club where he was a pivotal member for the first half of that club's 11-year consecutive premiership run from 1956. Billy Wilson won six consecutive premierships with the Dragons between 1956 and 1962. Read more
30 May 1926: Johnny Gimble, American country/western swing musician (died 2015) John Paul Gimble was an American country musician associated with Western swing. He was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 in the early influences category as a member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Read more
30 May 1925: John Henry Marks, English physician and author (died 2022) John Henry Marks was an English medical doctor who was Chairman of the British Medical Association, a position he held from 1984 to 1990. Read more
30 May 1924: Anthony Dryden Marshall, American CIA officer and diplomat (died 2014) Anthony Dryden Marshall was an American theatrical producer and C.I.A. intelligence officer and ambassador. After being convicted of financially exploiting his mother Brooke Astor, Marshall was sentenced to prison, and stayed there for only eight weeks in 2013 before receiving medical parole. He died on November 30, 2014, at the age of 90. Read more
30 May 1922: Hal Clement, American author and educator (died 2003) Harry Clement Stubbs, better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard. Read more
30 May 1920: Franklin J. Schaffner, Japanese-American director and producer (died 1989) Franklin James Schaffner was an American film, television, and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Patton (1970), and is known for the films Planet of the Apes (1968), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Papillon (1973), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). He served as president of the Directors Guild of America between 1987 and 1989. Read more
30 May 1919: René Barrientos, Bolivian general and politician, 55th President of Bolivia (died 1969) René Emilio Barrientos Ortuño was a Bolivian military officer and politician who served as the 47th president of Bolivia from 1964 to 1965 and 1966 to 1969. During his first term, he shared power with Alfredo Ovando as co-president of a military junta and was the 30th vice president of Bolivia in 1964. Read more
30 May 1918: Pita Amor, Mexican poet and author (died 2000) Guadalupe Teresa Amor Schmidtlein, who wrote as Pita Amor, was a Mexican poet. Read more
30 May 1918: Bob Evans, American businessman, founded Bob Evans Restaurants (died 2007) Robert Lewis Evans was an American restaurateur and marketer of pork sausage products. He founded a restaurant chain bearing his name. The company also owns Owens Country Sausage. Read more
30 May 1916: Justin Catayée, French soldier and politician (died 1962) Justin Catayée was a French politician who served in the French National Assembly from 1958 to 1962 and was the founder of the Guianese Socialist Party and fought in World War II. He was born in Cayenne, French Guiana, and died in the crash of Air France Flight 117 into a mountain in Guadeloupe on 22 June 1962. Read more
30 May 1916: Mort Meskin, American illustrator (died 1995) Morton Meskin was an American comic book artist best known for his work in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, well into the late-1950s and 1960s Silver Age. Read more
30 May 1915: Len Carney, English footballer and soldier (died 1996) Leonard Francis Carney was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward. Read more
30 May 1914: Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 37th Yokozuna (died 1979) Akinoumi Setsuo , born Nagata Setsuo , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hiroshima. He was the sport's 37th yokozuna. Read more
30 May 1912: Julius Axelrod, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Julius Axelrod was an American biochemist. He won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler. The Nobel Committee honored him for his work on the release and reuptake of catecholamine neurotransmitters, a class of chemicals in the brain that include epinephrine, norepinephrine, and, as was later discovered, dopamine. Axelrod also made major contributions to the understanding of the pineal gland and how it is regulated during the sleep-wake cycle. Read more
30 May 1912: Erich Bagge, German physicist and academic (died 1996) Erich Rudolf Bagge was a German scientist. Bagge, a student of Werner Heisenberg for his doctorate and Habilitation, was engaged in German Atomic Energy research and the German nuclear energy project during the Second World War. He worked as an Assistant at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Physik in Berlin. Bagge, who became associated professor at the University of Hamburg in 1948, was in particular involved in the usage of nuclear power for trading vessels, and he was one of the founders of the Society for the Usage of Nuclear Energy in Ship-Building and Seafare. Read more
30 May 1912: Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (died 1980) Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh actor. Described by BFI Screenonline as a "wild-eyed, formidable character player", Griffith appeared in more than 100 theatre, film, and television productions in a career that spanned over 40 years. He was the second Welsh-born actor to win an Academy Award, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur (1959), with an additional nomination for Tom Jones (1963). Read more
30 May 1912: Millicent Selsam, American author and academic (died 1996) Millicent Ellis Selsam was an American children's author. Read more
30 May 1912: Joseph Stein, American playwright and author (died 2010) Joseph Stein was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba. Read more
30 May 1910: Harry Bernstein, English-American journalist and author (died 2011) Harry Louis Bernstein was a British-born American writer. Bernstein lived in Brick Township, New Jersey. He died at the age of 101, on June 3, 2011. Read more
30 May 1909: Jacques Canetti, French music executive and talent agent (died 1997) Nessim Jacques Canetti was a French music executive and a talent agent. Born into a Sephardic Jewish family, his parents were Jacques Elias (Elieser) and Mathilde (Mazal) Canetti. He was the brother of the Nobel Prize-winning author Elias Canetti (1905–1994) and of Georges Canetti (1911–1971), a researcher and professor at the Pasteur Institute. Canetti studied at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales. Read more
30 May 1909: Freddie Frith, English motorcycle road racer (died 1988) Frederick Lee Frith OBE was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion. A former stonemason and later a motor cycle retailer in Grimsby, he was a stylish rider and five times winner of the Isle of Man TT. Frith was one of the few to win TT races before and after the Second World War. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1950 Birthday Honours. Read more
30 May 1909: Benny Goodman, American clarinet player, songwriter, and bandleader (died 1986) Benjamin David Goodman was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". Read more
30 May 1908: Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995) Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén was a Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now known as Alfvén waves. He was originally trained as an electrical power engineer and later moved to research and teaching in the fields of plasma physics and electrical engineering. Alfvén made many contributions to plasma physics, including theories describing the behavior of aurorae, the Van Allen radiation belts, the effect of magnetic storms on the Earth's magnetic field, the terrestrial magnetosphere, and the dynamics of plasmas in the Milky Way galaxy. Read more
30 May 1908: Mel Blanc, American voice actor (died 1989) Melvin Jerome Blanc was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over sixty years. Referred to as "The Man of a Thousand Voices", he is regarded as the greatest and most influential voice actor of all time. Blanc is best known for providing voices for Looney Tunes cartoons by Warner Bros. during the golden age of American animation. Read more
30 May 1907: Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist and academic (died 2008) Germaine Tillion was a French ethnologist, known for her work in Algeria in the 1950s on behalf of the Government of France. A member of the French Resistance in World War II, she spent time in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Read more
30 May 1906: Bruno Gröning, German mystic and author (died 1959) Bruno Gröning was a German mystic who rose to fame in the late 1940s for performing faith healings. Read more
30 May 1903: Countee Cullen, American poet and author (died 1946) Countee Cullen was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Read more
30 May 1902: Stepin Fetchit, American actor and dancer (died 1985) Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, better known by his stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black actor to have a successful film career. His highest profile was during the 1930s in films and on stage, when his persona of Stepin Fetchit was billed as the "Laziest Man in the World". Read more
30 May 1901: Alfred Karindi, Estonian pianist and composer (died 1969) Alfred Karindi was an Estonian organist and composer. Read more
30 May 1901: Cornelia Otis Skinner, American actress and author (died 1979) Cornelia Otis Skinner was an American writer and actress. Read more
30 May 1899: Irving Thalberg, American screenwriter and producer (died 1936) Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather production staff, and make profitable films, including Grand Hotel, China Seas, A Night at the Opera, Mutiny on the Bounty, Camille, and The Good Earth. His films carved out an international market, "projecting a seductive image of American life brimming with vitality and rooted in democracy and personal freedom", states biographer Roland Flamini. Read more
30 May 1898: John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (died 1985) John Thomas Young Gilroy was an English artist and illustrator, best known for his advertising posters for Guinness, the Irish stout. He signed many of his works, simply, "Gilroy". Read more
30 May 1897: Frank Wise, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Western Australia (died 1986) Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO was a Labor Party politician who was the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of his predecessor due to ill health. He lost the following election two years later to the Liberal Party after Labor had held office for fourteen years previously. Read more
30 May 1896: Howard Hawks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1977) Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. The critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." Roger Ebert called Hawks "one of the greatest American directors of pure movies, and a hero of auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in so many different kinds of genre material." He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Sergeant York (1941) and earned the Honorary Academy Award in 1974. Read more
30 May 1895: Maurice Tate, English cricketer (died 1956) Maurice William Tate was an English cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s and the leader of England's Test bowling attack for a long time during this period. He was also the first Sussex cricketer to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket. Read more
30 May 1894: Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (died 1965) Hubertus Johannes "Huib" van Mook was a Dutch administrator in the East Indies. During the Indonesian National Revolution, he served as the lieutenant governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1948. Van Mook also had a son named Cornelius van Mook who studied marine engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also wrote about Java – and his work on Kota Gede is a good example of a colonial bureaucrat capable of examining and writing about local folklore. Read more
30 May 1892: Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (died 1972) Fernand Amorsolo y Cueto was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. Nicknamed the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the first-ever to be recognized as a National Artist of the Philippines. He was recognized as such for his "pioneering use of impressionistic technique" as well as his skill in the use of lighting and backlighting in his paintings, "significant not only in the development of Philippine art but also in the formation of Filipino notions of self and identity." Read more
30 May 1890: Roger Salengro, French soldier and politician, French Minister of the Interior (died 1936) Roger Henri Charles Salengro was a French politician. He achieved fame as Minister of the Interior during the Popular Front government in 1936. He committed suicide a few months after taking office, after being hounded by a calumny campaign orchestrated by extreme right-wing newspapers. Read more
30 May 1887: Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian-American sculptor and illustrator (died 1964) Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was a Ukrainian-American avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist, active in France and the United States. He was one of the first to apply the principles of Cubism to architecture, analyzing human figures into geometrical forms. Read more
30 May 1887: Emil Reesen, Danish pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1964) Emil Reesen was a Danish composer, conductor and pianist. Aside from composing for ballets and operas he was also a noted film score composer. He is remembered mainly for his operetta Farinelli (1942), which is still popular today. Read more
30 May 1886: Laurent Barré, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 1964) Laurent Barré was a Quebec author, politician and Cabinet Minister for 16 years. Read more
30 May 1886: Randolph Bourne, American theorist and author (died 1918) Randolph Silliman Bourne was a progressive writer and intellectual born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. He is considered to be a spokesman for the young radicals living during World War I. His articles appeared in journals including The Seven Arts and The New Republic. Bourne is best known for his essays, especially his unfinished work "The State," discovered after he died. From this essay, which was published posthumously and included in Untimely Papers, comes the phrase "war is the health of the state" that laments the success of governments in arrogating authority and resources during conflicts. Read more
30 May 1885: Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (died 1942) Villem Grünthal-Ridala, born Wilhelm Grünthal was an Estonian poet, translator, linguist and folklorist. Read more
30 May 1884: Siegmund Glücksmann, German soldier and politician (died 1942) Siegmund Glücksmann was a German-Jewish socialist politician. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most prominent figures of the German minority socialist movement in Poland, functioned as its 'party ideologue' and represented the more Marxist oriented wing of the movement. Read more
30 May 1883: Sandy Pearce, Australian rugby league player (died 1930) Sidney Charles Pearce, better known as Sandy, was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer and boxer. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. In 1907 he played for New South Wales in the first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union. He made his first national representative appearance in 1908. Read more
30 May 1882: Wyndham Halswelle, English runner and soldier (died 1915) Wyndham Halswelle was a British athlete. He won the controversial 400 m race at the 1908 Summer Olympics, becoming the only athlete to win an Olympic title by a walkover. Read more
30 May 1881: Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (died 1968) Georg Carl Wilhelm Friedrich von Küchler was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. He commanded the 18th Army and Army Group North during the Soviet-German war of 1941–1945. Read more
30 May 1879: Colin Blythe, English cricketer and soldier (died 1917) Colin Blythe, also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1899 to 1914. Born in Deptford, he played for Kent as a slow left arm orthodox (SLA) bowler and a right-handed batsman. He played in nineteen Test matches for England from 1901 to 1910. Read more
30 May 1879: Konstantin Ramul, Estonian psychologist and academic (died 1975) Konstantin Ramul was an Estonian professor of psychology and longtime chair of psychology at the University of Tartu. He is best known for his work on the history of experimental psychology. Read more
30 May 1875: Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher and academic (died 1944) Giovanni Gentile was an Italian pedagogue, philosopher, and politician. Read more
30 May 1874: Ernest Duchesne, French physician (died 1912) Ernest Duchesne was a French physician who noted that certain molds kill bacteria. He made this discovery 32 years before Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic properties of penicillin, a substance derived from those molds, but his research went unnoticed. Read more
30 May 1869: Grace Andrews, American mathematician (died 1951) Grace Andrews was an American mathematician. She, along with Charlotte Angas Scott, was one of only two women listed in the first edition of American Men of Science, which appeared in 1906. Read more
30 May 1862: Mirza Alakbar Sabir, Azerbaijani philosopher and poet (died 1911) Mirza Ali-Akbar Tahirzada, commonly known by his pseudonym Sabir (صابر), was a satirist and poet in the Russian Empire, who played a leading role in development of Azerbaijani literature. Read more
30 May 1846: Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian goldsmith and jeweler (died 1920) Peter Carl Gustavovich Fabergé was a Russian goldsmith and jeweller. He is best known for creating Fabergé eggs made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane materials. He was one of the sons of Gustav Fabergé, the founder of the House of Fabergé. Read more
30 May 1845: Amadeo I, Spanish king (died 1890) Amadeo I, also known as Amadeus, was an Italian prince who reigned as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873. The only king of Spain to come from the House of Savoy, he was the second son of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and was known for most of his life as the Duke of Aosta, the usual title for a second son in the Savoyard dynasty. Read more
30 May 1844: Félix Arnaudin, French poet and photographer (died 1921) Félix Arnaudin was a French poet, photographer, and specialist in Haute-Lande folklore. In Gascony, M. Arnaudin created his collection of tales by attending gatherings, as well as eddings nd various agricultural festivals. He left 3,000 photos to the Musée d'Aquitaine in Bordeaux. Read more
30 May 1835: Alfred Austin, English author, poet, and playwright (died 1913) Alfred Austin was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896, after an interval following the death of Tennyson, when the other candidates had either caused controversy or refused the honour. It was claimed that he was being rewarded for his support for the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury in the General Election of 1895. Austin's poems are little remembered today, his most popular work being prose idylls celebrating nature. Wilfred Scawen Blunt wrote of him, "He is an acute and ready reasoner, and is well read in theology and science. It is strange his poetry should be such poor stuff, and stranger still that he should imagine it immortal." Read more
30 May 1820: Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Quebec (died 1890) Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau was a Canadian lawyer and politician. Chauveau was the first premier of Quebec, following the establishment of Canada in 1867. Appointed to the office in 1867 as the leader of the Conservative Party, he won the provincial elections of 1867 and 1871. He resigned as premier and his seat in the provincial Legislative Assembly in 1873. Read more
30 May 1819: William McMurdo, English general (died 1894) Sir William Montagu Scott McMurdo was a British Army officer who rose to the rank of general. He saw active service in India, helped to run a military railway in the Crimean War and then managed various groups of volunteers working with the army. He was eventually knighted. Read more
30 May 1814: Mikhail Bakunin, Russian philosopher and theorist (died 1876) Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a Russian revolutionary anarchist and political philosopher. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, social anarchist, and collectivist anarchist tendencies. Bakunin's prestige as a revolutionary also made him one of the most famous ideologues in Europe, gaining substantial influence among radicals throughout Russia and Europe. Read more
30 May 1814: Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (died 1894) Eugène Charles Catalan was a French and Belgian mathematician who worked on continued fractions, descriptive geometry, number theory and combinatorics. His notable contributions included discovering a periodic minimal surface in the space ; stating the famous Catalan's conjecture, which was eventually proved in 2002; and introducing the Catalan numbers to solve a combinatorial problem. Read more
30 May 1800: Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose, French cardinal (died 1883) Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose was a French Catholic and senator. He was the last surviving cardinal to have been born in the 18th century. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 30 May in World History

30 May 2025: Étienne-Émile Baulieu, French biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1926) Étienne-Émile Baulieu was a French biochemist and endocrinologist who was best known for his research in the field of steroid hormones and their role in reproduction and aging. He has been nicknamed the “father” of the abortion pill mainly as a result of his work on the abortion-inducing drug RU486 (Mifepristone). Baulieu also worked to determine if dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) was a prohormone and if it and other hormonal substitutions also increased longevity in humans. Read more
30 May 2025: Valerie Mahaffey, American actress (born 1953) Valerie Mahaffey was a Canadian-American actress. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors (1979–81), for which in 1980 she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Read more
30 May 2025: Loretta Swit, American actress and singer (born 1937) Loretta Swit was an American stage and television actress. She was widely known for her character roles, especially her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H, for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards in each season of the long-running show, and won two, in 1980 and 1982. Read more
30 May 2025: John E. Thrasher, American politician (born 1943) John E. Thrasher was an American politician and state legislator in Florida. He was a businessman, lawyer, and lobbyist who served as the 15th president of Florida State University. He was approved by the Florida Board of Governors on November 6, 2014, and took office on November 10, 2014. On September 11, 2020, Thrasher and the university board of trustees announced his retirement in a joint statement. In May 2021, Richard McCullough was chosen by Florida State University's board of trustees to succeed Thrasher. Read more
30 May 2024: Geneviève de Galard, French nurse (born 1925) Geneviève de Galard was a French nurse who was dubbed l'ange de Dien Bien Phu during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Geneviève. Read more
30 May 2024: Drew Gordon, American professional basketball player (born 1990) Drew Edward Gordon was an American professional basketball player. He spent most of his career playing overseas in Europe but also played domestically in the NBA G League and with the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Read more
30 May 2021: Jason Dupasquier, Swiss motorcycle road racer (born 2001) Jason Dupasquier was a Swiss motorcycle rider who competed in the Moto3 class in the motorcycle world championship until his death after a crash during qualifying at the 2021 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix. He was the son of Motocross rider Philippe Dupasquier. Read more
30 May 2020: Michael Angelis, British actor (born 1944) Nicolas Michael Angelis was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles as Chrissie Todd in Boys from the Blackstuff, Martin Niarchos in G.B.H. and as the longest-running narrator of the British children's series Thomas & Friends from 1991 to 2012, as well as several other products and media related to the franchise. Read more
30 May 2019: Thad Cochran, American lawyer and politician (born 1937) William Thad Cochran was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican, he previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978. Read more
30 May 2019: Jason Marcano, Trinidadian footballer (born 1983) Jason Marcano was a Trinidad and Tobago international footballer who played as a forward. Read more
30 May 2016: Tom Lysiak, Polish-Canadian ice hockey player (born 1953) Thomas James Lysiak was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Selected in the first round, second overall, of the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft by the Atlanta Flames, he was additionally selected by the Houston Aeros in the second round of the 1973 WHA Amateur Draft at 23rd overall. Read more
30 May 2016: Rick MacLeish, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1950) Richard George MacLeish was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Philadelphia Flyers, Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings. He played 12 seasons in Philadelphia, winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Flyers in 1974 and 1975. His 53 goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Flyers is a franchise record that he shares with Bill Barber. Read more
30 May 2015: Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (born 1969) Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III was an American politician, lawyer, and Army National Guard officer who served as the 44th attorney general of Delaware from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Biden family and the Democratic Party, he was the eldest child of 46th U.S. president Joe Biden and Neilia Hunter Biden. Read more
30 May 2015: Joël Champetier, Canadian author and screenwriter (born 1957) Joël Champetier was a French-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author. Read more
30 May 2015: L. Tom Perry, American religious leader and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1922) Lowell Tom Perry was an American businessman and religious leader who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1974 until his death. Read more
30 May 2014: Hienadz Buraukin, Belarusian poet, journalist, and diplomat (born 1936) Hienadz Mikalaevich Buraukin was a Belarusian poet, journalist and diplomat. Read more
30 May 2014: Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927) Henning Carlsen was a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer most noted for his documentaries and his contributions to the style of cinéma vérité. Carlsen's 1966 social-realistic drama Hunger (Sult) was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film. Carlsen also won the Bodil Award the following year for the comedy People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart. Acting as his own producer since 1960, Carlsen has directed more than 25 films, 19 for which he wrote the screenplay. In 2006, he received the Golden Swan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival. Read more
30 May 2014: Joan Lorring, British actress (born 1926) Joan Lorring was an American actress and singer known for her work in film and theatre. For her role as Bessy Watty in The Corn Is Green (1945), Lorring was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lorring also originated the role of Marie Buckholder in Come Back, Little Sheba on Broadway in 1950, for which she won a Donaldson Award. Read more
30 May 2014: Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral (born 1932) Leonidas Vasilikopoulos was a Greek Navy officer, who served as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff in 1986–1989 and then as head of the Greek National Intelligence Service in 1993–1996. A distinguished officer, he is also notable for his participation in resistance groups against the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, being repeatedly imprisoned and exiled as a consequence. Read more
30 May 2013: Jayalath Jayawardena, Sri Lankan physician and politician (born 1953) Ruban Canistus Jayalath Jayawardena MP, commonly as Jayalath Jayawardena, was a medical doctor who was elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka for the opposition United National Party (UNP) in 1994. Jayawardena was known as a human rights activist. Jayawardena is also popular for his sheer commitment and loyalty for the UNP. Read more
30 May 2013: Larry Jones, American football player and coach (born 1933) Larry Bruce Jones was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Florida State University from 1971 to 1973, compiling a record of 15–19. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Jones played as a linebacker and center at Louisiana State University (LSU). He also served as an assistant coach as his alma mater, LSU, and at the University of South Carolina, the United States Military Academy, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Kansas. Read more
30 May 2012: John Fox, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1957) John Fox was an American comedian. Read more
30 May 2012: Andrew Huxley, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917) Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley was an English physiologist and biophysicist. He was born into the prominent Huxley family. After leaving Westminster School in central London, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, on a scholarship, after which he joined Alan Hodgkin to study nerve impulses. Their eventual discovery of the basis for propagation of nerve impulses earned them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963. They made their discovery from the giant axon of the Atlantic squid. Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, Huxley was recruited by the British Anti-Aircraft Command and later transferred to the Admiralty. After the war he resumed research at the University of Cambridge, where he developed interference microscopy that would be suitable for studying muscle fibres. Read more
30 May 2012: Gerhard Pohl, German economist and politician (born 1937) Gerhard Pohl was a German politician and a member of the East German CDU. He served as Minister of Economics from April to August 1990, in the cabinet of Lothar de Maizière. Read more
30 May 2012: Jack Twyman, American basketball player and sportscaster (born 1934) John Kennedy Twyman was an American professional basketball player and sports broadcaster. During his career, he was a caregiver for his disabled teammate Maurice Stokes and both are the namesakes of the NBA's Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. Twyman was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983. Read more
30 May 2011: Isikia Savua, Fijian police officer and diplomat (born 1952)

Isikia Rabici Savua was a senior Fijian diplomat who had a distinguished career in the military and police forces before taking up his last post as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations on 4 March 2003. Read more
30 May 2011: Saleem Shahzad, Pakistani journalist (born 1970) Syed Saleem Shahzad was a Pakistani investigative journalist who wrote widely for leading European and Asian media. He served as the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online and Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI). Read more
30 May 2011: Marek Siemek, Polish philosopher and historian (born 1942) Marek Jan Siemek was a Polish philosopher and historian of German transcendental philosophy. He was a professor at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw and the director of its Department of Social Philosophy. Read more
30 May 2011: Clarice Taylor, American actress (born 1917) Clarice Taylor was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on Sanford and Son; Anna Huxtable, the mother of Cliff Huxtable, on The Cosby Show; and Mrs. Brooks in Five on the Black Hand Side (1973). Read more
30 May 2011: Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1921) Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for development of the radioimmunoassay technique. She was the second woman, and the first American-born woman, to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Read more
30 May 2010: Yuri Chesnokov, Russian volleyball player and coach (born 1933) Yuri Borisovich Chesnokov was a Russian volleyball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1964 Summer Olympics. He was born in Moscow. Read more
30 May 2010: Dufferin Roblin, Canadian commander and politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (born 1917) Dufferin "Duff" Roblin was a Canadian businessman and politician. He served as the 14th premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as government leader in the Senate. He was the grandson of Sir Rodmond Roblin, who also served as Manitoba Premier. His ancestor John Roblin served in the Upper Canada assembly. Read more
30 May 2009: Torsten Andersson, Swedish painter and illustrator (born 1926) Otto Torsten Andersson was a Swedish modernist painter, best known for his theme of the realistic depiction of abstract sculptures, and two-dimensional exploration of three-dimensional objects, where the colors seem to be superimposed on a random and perfunctory manner. Read more
30 May 2009: Susanna Haapoja, Finnish politician (born 1966) Aino Maria Susanna Haapoja was a Finnish politician in the Centre Party. Haapoja was born in Kauhava and became a Member of Parliament in 2003 and was elected for a second term in 2007. In 2005, she became the chair of the Kauhava city council. She was an agrologist by training. Read more
30 May 2009: Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician, 4th President of Israel (born 1916) Ephraim Katzir was an Israeli biophysicist and Labor Party politician. He was the president of Israel from 1973 until 1978. Read more
30 May 2007: Jean-Claude Brialy, Algerian-French actor and director (born 1933) Jean-Claude Brialy was a French actor and film director. Read more
30 May 2007: Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (born 1907) Birgit Ellenora Johanne Dalland was a Norwegian politician for the Communist Party. Read more
30 May 2007: Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet and critic (born 1927) Gunturu Seshendra Sarma B.A. B.L., also known as Yuga Kavi, was a Telugu poet, critic and litterateur. He is well known for his works Naa Desam, Naa Prajalu and Kaala Rekha. He authored over fifty works which have been translated into English, Kannada, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Nepali and Greek. Read more
30 May 2006: Shohei Imamura, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926) Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from Japan to win two Palme d'Or awards, doing so with The Ballad of Narayama (1983) and The Eel (1997). Read more
30 May 2006: David Lloyd, New Zealand biologist and academic (born 1938) David Graham Lloyd was an evolutionary biologist and the seventh New Zealander to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in London. He did pioneering work in the field of plant reproduction. Read more
30 May 2006: Robert Sterling, American actor (born 1917) Robert Sterling was an American actor. He was best known for starring in the television series Topper (1953–1955). Read more
30 May 2005: Gérald Leblanc, Acadian poet (born 1945) Gérald Leblanc was an Acadian poet notable for seeking his own Acadian roots and the current voices of Acadian culture. Leblanc was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. He studied at the Université de Moncton and lived in Moncton, where he died in 2005. He also spent a good part of his life in New York City, which he loved. Read more
30 May 2005: Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (born 1958) Tomasz Pacyński was a Polish fantasy and science fiction writer, born in Warsaw. He was one of the creators and, from 2004, the chief editor of Fahrenheit, the first Polish Internet science fiction fanzine. He published short stories in such magazines as Science Fiction, SFera, and Fantasy, and in Internet fanzines such as Fahrenheit, Esensja, Fantazin and Srebrny Glob. He also wrote articles published in SFera and Science Fiction. Read more
30 May 2005: Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and stenographer (born 1918) Alma Ziegler was an infielder and pitcher who played from 1944 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m), 125 lb., Ziegler batted and threw right-handed. Read more
30 May 2001: Denis Whitaker, Canadian general and historian (born 1915) Brigadier William Denis Whitaker, was a Canadian athlete, soldier, businessman, and author. Read more
30 May 2000: Tex Beneke, American saxophonist and bandleader (born 1914) Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers who worked with Miller. His band is also associated with the careers of Eydie Gormé, Henry Mancini, and Ronnie Deauville. Beneke also solos on the recording the Glenn Miller Orchestra made of their popular song "In the Mood" and sings on another popular Glenn Miller recording, "Chattanooga Choo Choo". Jazz critic Will Friedwald considers Beneke to be one of the major blues singers who sang with the big bands of the early 1940s. Read more
30 May 1999: Kalju Lepik, Estonian poet and author (born 1920) Kalju Lepik was an Estonian poet who lived as an exile for most of his life. Read more
30 May 1996: Léon-Étienne Duval, French cardinal (born 1903) Léon-Étienne Duval was a French prelate and cardinal. He served as Archbishop of Algiers from 1954 to 1988, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965. Read more
30 May 1996: Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (born 1961) Alo Mattiisen was an Estonian musician and composer. Read more
30 May 1995: Ted Drake, English footballer and manager (born 1912) Edward Joseph Drake was an English football player and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, as well as five caps for England. Drake is Arsenal's joint fifth highest goalscorer of all time. He also holds the record for the most goals scored in a top flight game in English football, with seven against Aston Villa in December 1935. A former centre forward, Drake has been described as a "classic number 9" and as a "strong, powerful, brave and almost entirely unthinking" player who "typified the English view." Read more
30 May 1995: Lofty England, English-Austrian engineer (born 1911) Frank Raymond Wilton "Lofty" England was an engineer and motor company manager from Britain. He rose to fame as the manager of the Jaguar Cars sports car racing team in the 1950s, during which time Jaguar cars won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race on five occasions. After the company's withdrawal from racing England moved into the mainstream management of Jaguar Cars, later succeeding Sir William Lyons as its chairman and Chief Executive, before retiring in 1974. Read more
30 May 1995: Bobby Stokes, English footballer (born 1951) Robert William Thomas Stokes was an English footballer, best known for scoring the winning goal in the 83rd minute of the FA Cup Final for Southampton against Manchester United in 1976. Read more
30 May 1994: Ezra Taft Benson, American religious leader, 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1899) Ezra Taft Benson was an American farmer, federal government official, and religious leader. He served as the 15th United States Secretary of Agriculture during the entirety of both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower; he was the 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death in 1994. Read more
30 May 1994: Marcel Bich, Italian-French businessman, co-founded Société Bic (born 1914) Marcel Bich, Baron Bich was an Italian-French manufacturer and co-founder of Bic, the world's leading producer of ballpoint pens, lighters and razors. Read more
30 May 1994: Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (born 1955) Agostino Di Bartolomei was an Italian football player, who played as a midfielder or as a defender, in a sweeper role. Famed for his elegance on the ball and playmaking skills, he is regarded as one of A.S. Roma's greatest players ever, and one of the greatest Italian players never to have been capped by the Italy national team. Read more
30 May 1993: Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1914) Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led The Arkestra, an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. Read more
30 May 1990: Cécile Chabot, Canadian poet and illustrator (born 1907) Cécile Chabot was a Canadian poet and illustrator. Read more
30 May 1986: Perry Ellis, American fashion designer, founded his own eponymous fashion brand (born 1940) Perry Edwin Ellis was an American fashion designer who founded his eponymous sportswear house in the mid-1970s. Ellis's influence on the fashion industry has been called "a huge turning point" because he introduced new patterns and proportions to a market which was dominated by more traditional men's clothing. Read more
30 May 1984: Manuel Buendía, Mexican journalist and political columnist (born 1926) Manuel Buendía Tellezgirón was a Mexican journalist and political columnist who last worked for the daily Excélsior, one of the most-read newspapers in Mexico City. His direct reporting style in his column Red Privada, which publicly exposed government and law enforcement corruption, organized crime, and drug trafficking, was distributed and read in over 200 newspapers across Mexico. Read more
30 May 1982: Albert Norden, German journalist and politician (born 1904) Albert Norden was a German communist politician, academic and journalist who held several senior positions in the ruling Socialist Unity Party of East Germany from the 1950s until his retirement in 1981. Among his responsibilities were domestic and foreign propaganda, the Party Academy "Karl Marx", and the National Front. He also edited the Braunbuch, published in 1965, in which nearly 2,000 leading West Germans were named as former Nazis. Read more
30 May 1981: Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1955) Donald Allan Ashby was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who was a centre for six seasons in the National Hockey League from 1975–76 until 1980–81. Read more
30 May 1981: Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (born 1936) Ziaur Rahman was a Bangladeshi military leader and politician who served as the sixth president of Bangladesh from 1977 until his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of the country's independence war, Zia broadcast the Bangladeshi declaration of independence in March 1971 from Chittagong. In the aftermath of the Sipahi-Janata revolution in 1975, he consolidated power to lead Bangladesh with pragmatic policies through economic liberalization and civic nationalism that significantly contributed to the economic recovery of the country. He is often referred to as the ‘‘Shaheed President’’ in Bangladesh. He also founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Read more
30 May 1980: Carl Radle, American bass player and producer (born 1942) Carl Dean Radle was an American bassist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s. Radle is best remembered for his work with Eric Clapton from 1969 to 1979, including as a member of his band Derek and the Dominos. Radle is sometimes called Clapton's "right hand man" as he helped him during dark periods of his life battling drug addiction. Read more
30 May 1978: Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1909) Jean Deslauriers was a Canadian conductor, violinist, and composer. As a conductor he had a long and fruitful partnership with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; conducting orchestras for feature films and television and radio programs for more than 40 years. He also worked as a guest conductor with orchestras and opera companies throughout Canada and served on the conducting staff of the Opéra du Québec. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes him as "a conductor with a sober but efficient technique, who was always faithful to the written score [and] equally at ease conducting concerts, opera, and lighter repertoire." His best-known compositions are his Prélude for strings and the song, La Musique des yeux. He is the father of soprano Yolande Deslauriers-Husaruk. Read more
30 May 1976: Max Carey, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1890) Maximillian George Carnarius, also known as Max George Carey, was an American professional baseball center fielder and manager. Carey played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1910 through 1926 and for the Brooklyn Robins from 1926 through 1929. He managed the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932 and 1933. Read more
30 May 1976: Mitsuo Fuchida, Japanese captain (born 1902) Mitsuo Fuchida was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber observer in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Working under the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the aerial attack. Read more
30 May 1975: Steve Prefontaine, American runner (born 1951) Steve Roland Prefontaine was an American long-distance runner who set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters from a period of 1973 to 1975. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and he was preparing for the 1976 Olympics with the Oregon Track Club at the time of his death in 1975. Read more
30 May 1975: Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist, founded Isshin-ryū (born 1908) Tatsuo Shimabuku was an Okinawan, Japanese martial artist. He is the founder of Isshin-ryū style of karate. Read more
30 May 1975: Michel Simon, Swiss-born French actor (born 1895) Michel Simon was a Swiss actor of German origin active primarily in France. He appeared in many notable French films, including La Chienne (1931), Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), L'Atalante (1934), Port of Shadows (1938), The Head (1959), and The Train (1964). Charlie Chaplin said he was ‘the greatest actor in the world’. Read more
30 May 1971: Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (born 1886) Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Read more
30 May 1967: Claude Rains, English-American actor (born 1889) William Claude Rains was a British and American character actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and is considered one of the screen's great character stars who played cultured villains during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Read more
30 May 1965: Louis Hjelmslev, Danish linguist and academic (born 1899) Louis Trolle Hjelmslev was a Danish linguist whose ideas formed the basis of the Copenhagen School of linguistics. Born into an academic family, Hjelmslev studied comparative linguistics in Copenhagen, Prague and Paris. In 1931, he founded the Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague. Together with Hans Jørgen Uldall he developed a structuralist theory of language which he called glossematics, which further developed the semiotic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure. Glossematics as a theory of language is characterized by a high degree of formalism. It is interested in describing the formal and semantic characteristics of language in separation from sociology, psychology or neurobiology, and has a high degree of logical rigour. Hjelmslev regarded linguistics – or glossematics – as a formal science. He was a pioneer of formal linguistics. Hjelmslev's theory became widely influential in structural and functional grammar, and in semiotics. Read more
30 May 1964: Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian king (born 1882) Oba Sir Isaac Babalola Akinyele, KBE was the first educated Olubadan of Ibadan, and the second Christian to ascend the throne. Read more
30 May 1964: Eddie Sachs, American race car driver (born 1927) Edward Julius Sachs Jr. was an American racing driver in the United States Auto Club. Read more
30 May 1964: Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-American physicist and engineer (born 1898) Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born American physicist, biologist and inventor who made numerous important discoveries in nuclear physics and the biological sciences. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, and patented the idea in 1936. In late 1939 he wrote the Einstein–Szilard letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb, and then in 1945 wrote the Szilard petition asking president Harry S. Truman to demonstrate the bomb without dropping it on civilians. According to György Marx, he was one of the Hungarian scientists known as The Martians. Read more
30 May 1961: Rafael Trujillo, Dominican soldier and politician, 36th President of the Dominican Republic (born 1891) Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, nicknamed "El Jefe", was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He was the 36th and 39th president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952. He also served as the first generalissimo, the de facto most powerful position in the country at the time from 1930 until his assassination. Under that position, Trujillo served under figurehead presidents. Read more
30 May 1960: Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1890) Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, and literary translator. Read more
30 May 1957: Piero Carini, Italian race car driver (born 1921) Piero Carini was a racing driver from Italy. He was born in Genoa and died in Saint-Étienne, France. Read more
30 May 1955: Bill Vukovich, American race car driver (born 1918) William Vukovich was an American racing driver. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500s, plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races, and died while leading the 1955 Indianapolis 500. Read more
30 May 1953: Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (born 1886) Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film Casablanca. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme song "As Time Goes By". Read more
30 May 1951: Hermann Broch, Austrian-American author (born 1886) Hermann Broch was an Austrian writer, best known for two major works of modernist fiction: The Sleepwalkers and The Death of Virgil. Read more
30 May 1949: Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French cardinal (born 1874) Emmanuel Célestin Suhard was a French cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Paris from 1940 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935. He was instrumental in the founding of the Mission of France and the worker-priest movement, to bring the clergy closer to the people. Read more
30 May 1948: József Klekl, Slovene-Hungarian priest and politician (born 1874) József Klekl was a Slovene Roman Catholic priest from Prekmurje and politician in Hungary, writer, governor of the Slovene People's Party (Slovenska lüdska stranka), later a delegate in Belgrade. Klekl was an active proponent of the independence of the Slovene March in Hungary (Slovenska krajina), and for some time fusion with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Read more
30 May 1947: Georg von Trapp, Austrian captain (born 1880) Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. After their naturalisation as US citizens, the family name was changed to 'Trapp' without the 'von'. Read more
30 May 1946: Louis Slotin, Canadian physicist and chemist (born 1910) Louis Alexander Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project. Born and raised in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Slotin earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Manitoba, and his doctorate in physical chemistry at King's College London in 1936. Afterwards, he joined the University of Chicago as a research associate to help design a cyclotron. Read more
30 May 1941: Prajadhipok, Thai king (born 1893) Prajadhipok, also known as Rama VII was the seventh monarch of the Chakri dynasty and the last king of Siam under the absolute monarchy. He ascended the throne in 1925 and reigned until his abdication in 1935 during his self-imposed exile following his fallout with the new democratic government after the 1932 Siamese Revolution, which brought an end to the country’s absolute monarchy. Read more
30 May 1939: Floyd Roberts, American race car driver (born 1904) Floyd Marion Roberts was an American racing driver. He won the 1938 Indianapolis 500 with a then-record speed of 117.2 mph (188.6 km/h). He led for 92 laps. The following year, 1939, driving the same car, Roberts was killed in a crash. He was the first defending champion of the race to have been killed in competition. Read more
30 May 1934: Tōgō Heihachirō, Japanese admiral (born 1848) Tōgō Heihachirō , served as a gensui or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. As Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he successfully confined the Russian Pacific naval forces to Port Arthur before winning a decisive victory over a relieving fleet at Tsushima in May 1905. Western journalists called Tōgō "the Nelson of the East". He remains deeply revered as a national hero in Japan, with shrines and streets named in his honour. Read more
30 May 1926: Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (born 1864) Vladimir Andreevich Steklov was a prominent Russian and Soviet mathematician, mechanician and physicist. Read more
30 May 1925: Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (born 1876) Arthur Wilhelm Ernst Victor Moeller van den Bruck was a German cultural historian, philosopher, and key intellectual figure of the Conservative Revolution. Read more
30 May 1920: Mirza Muhammad Yusuf Ali, Bengali writer and social activist (born 1858) Mirza Muhammad Yusuf Ali was a Bengali writer and reformer in British India. Read more
30 May 1918: Georgi Plekhanov, Russian philosopher and theorist (born 1856) Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov was a Russian Marxist theorist, philosopher, and revolutionary. After beginning his revolutionary career as a populist, in 1883 Plekhanov established the Emancipation of Labour group, the first Russian Marxist political organisation. He is widely regarded as the "father of Russian Marxism", and his theoretical works were instrumental in converting a generation of revolutionaries, including Vladimir Lenin, to the cause. Read more
30 May 1912: Wilbur Wright, American pilot and businessman, co-founded the Wright Company (born 1867) The Wright brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, four miles (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at what is now known as Kill Devil Hills. In 1904 the Wright brothers developed the Wright Flyer II, which made longer-duration flights including the first circle, followed in 1905 by the first truly practical fixed-wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III. Read more
30 May 1911: Milton Bradley, American businessman, founded the Milton Bradley Company (born 1836) Milton Bradley was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and folded in 1998. Read more
30 May 1901: Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician, lawyer, and jurist (born 1841) Victor Joseph Auguste D'Hondt was a Belgian lawyer and jurist of civil law at Ghent University. He devised a procedure, the D'Hondt method, which he first described in 1878, for allocating seats to candidates in party-list proportional representation elections. The method has been adopted by a number of countries, including Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, Israel, Japan, North Macedonia, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Iceland, Uruguay and Wales. A modified D'Hondt system is used for elections to the London Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. Read more
30 May 1892: Mary Hannah Gray Clarke, American author, correspondent, and poet (born 1835) Mary Hannah Gray Clarke was an American author, correspondent, and poet from Rhode Island. She wrote extensively for magazines and for the public press, and was also the author of many dramas, lyric poems, operettas, stories for the young, and essays. In addition to the operettas, "Just Like Cinderella" and "Jack Frost's Visit to the Fairies", her works included "Effle, Fairy Queen of Dolls," "Prince Pussin-Boots," "Golden Hair and her Knight of the Beanstalk in the Enchanted Forest," "Obed Owler and the Prize Writers," "How I Came to Leave Town and What Came of It," "Edith Morton, the Sensible Young Lady;" "The Story that the Willow Basket Told to Faith Fairchild;" "English Lyrics;" and "Home;" as well as a number of songs, such as "Were it not for Dreams;" "Twittering Swallow;" "Robin, Robin, Bold and Free;" "Down by the River;" "Not to Blame;" and "Our-Leafed Clover." Read more
30 May 1875: Rosa May Billinghurst, "cripple suffragette" (sic) Rosa May Billinghurst was a British suffragette and women's rights activist. She was known popularly as the "cripple suffragette" as she campaigned in a tricycle. Read more
30 May 1873: Karamat Ali Jaunpuri, Indian Muslim scholar, (born 1800) Karāmat ʿAlī Jaunpūrī, born as Muḥammad ʿAlī Jaunpūrī, was a nineteenth-century Indian Muslim social reformer and founder of the Taiyuni movement. He played a major role in propagating to the masses of Bengal and Assam via public sermons, and wrote over forty books. Syed Ameer Ali is one of his notable students. Read more
30 May 1867: Ramón Castilla, Peruvian military leader and politician, President of Peru (born 1797) Ramón Castilla y Marquesado was a Peruvian caudillo who served twice as President of Peru, first in 1845–1851, and then in 1855–1862. He also led a Military junta in 1844, and was interim president for a couple of days in April 1863. His earliest prominent appearance in Peruvian history began with his participation in a commanding role of the army of the Libertadores that helped Peru become an independent nation. Later, he led the country when the economy boomed due to the exploitation of guano deposits. Castilla's governments are remembered for having abolished slavery and modernized the state. Read more
30 May 1865: John Catron, American lawyer and judge (born 1786) John Catron was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1837 to 1865, during the Taney Court. Read more
30 May 1855: Mary Reibey, Australian businesswoman, (born 1777) Mary Reibey was an English-born merchant, shipowner and trader who was transported to Australia as a convict. After gaining her freedom, she was viewed by her contemporaries as a community role model and became legendary as a successful businesswoman in the colony. Read more
30 May 1832: James Mackintosh, Scottish historian, jurist, and politician (born 1765) Sir James Mackintosh FRS FRSE was a Scottish jurist, Whig politician and Whig historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a journalist, judge, administrator, professor, philosopher and politician. Read more
30 May 1829: Philibert Jean-Baptiste Curial, French general (born 1774) Philibert-Jean-Baptiste François Joseph, comte Curial was a general in the French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Read more

Why is 30 May Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 30 May, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 30 May in World history?

On 30 May, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.